The Hold Steady: "Heaven Is Whenever"

I've never quite been able to peg The Hold Steady.  Listen to the music and not the lyrics, and they're a "fun" band – lots of uptempo guitar, jangling piano, and catchy hooks.  Listen to the lyrics, though, and a powerful dissonance often shines through.  These are not glittery songs about having fun and being famous.  They're often as much about feeling lost as being found, and trying to get to where you want to be.

The Hold Steady's newest album, Heaven Is Whenever, doesn't do much to change that paradigm.  The tight yet ebullient songwriting is still there, the sometimes melancholic, sometimes ecstatic lyrics keep you from locking down exactly where the band is coming from.  And this complexity is no curse: it gives the album, like their impressive 2006 album Boys and Girls in America, a richness that stands up to repeated listens under any conditions.

— C.

First Listen: The Hold Steady's Heaven Is Whenever (NPR)